Epic - The Adventure Continues
by Epicmouse
Summary: What happens after the final credits of Epic? Is the forest finally safe? Will a teenage romance bloom or wither?
1. Chapter 1

I was running so fast I could barely control my legs. It felt like I was on autopilot as I rushed through the forest dodging trees, rocks and fallen branches. All I could hear was the sounds of my footsteps, moving too fast. I'm scared. But I can't remember why. I look up to notice the dark sky. The tree tops seem too far away. An owl hoots in the distance. I don't know where I am running to. I try to stop but I can't. I look down to focus on my feet. They are a blur. My face is slick with tears and my vision is distorted. _Stop_. I urge my feet silently. _Please stop_. But they won't. The sound of them slapping against the hard ground is too loud. It gets louder and louder. It begins to hurt my ears. Then it starts to change. It morphs into the sound of flapping. Bats! I look behind me; a black cloud is chasing me. I turn to look for a way out of the forest, or a place to hide, but there is not point. The black cloud is in front of me as well. It's surrounding me. Closing in. It's getting closer and closer. It's suffocating me. I can barely breathe. The flapping noise is deafening and I close my eyes as I continue to run. All of a sudden, I trip on something and fall. I scream.

"M.K?!" a muffled shout wakes me, "M.K. are you all right?" My dad knocks on the wooden bedroom door before entering. I sit up in bed and realise I'm sweating.

"Yeah, I think so," I say, my voice hoarse. I cough to try and fix it to no avail, "just a bad dream."

"Again?" My dad sits on the small bed next to me and I move over to make room. "That's the third night in a row!"

"I know," I'm still crying from the dream and I wipe my face on my sleeve. I stare into space, watching the dust mites dance in the sunlight that flows through my bedroom window.

There's an awkward silence before my dad leans over and kisses my forehead. "We'll sort it out, my love," he whispered, "we'll make them go away. It's only been a month since it happened, you just need time for your mind to take everything in. You went through a massive psychological ordeal!"

"The sooner the better," I grumble as I slowly get out of bed, careful to not hit my head on the low slanting ceiling.

My dad gets up in the same manor, "I was thinking that you could change bedrooms. Since you're almost an adult now?"

I laugh, "I don't think the bedroom is the problem. I think the problem is that everything is miniature and pink!"

We both laugh. "Well I was up all last night cleaning out the attic if you do want to change? We could go shopping for some new furniture. It will be my birthday present to you."

I look up at him with surprise. Cleaning out the attic? All of mums stuff was up there. He noticed my weary look. "We can use this room as a store room for the stuff that was up there. It really is a lot bigger and you can have your own balcony!"

"Sounds great, Dad! It really does," I say with a smile. Although I can't remember the last time I went shopping with my father. This was going to be interesting.

"What about this one?" My dad points out a hideously girly looking white iron-lacey-pumpkin looking bed. I groan. "Or not," my dad sighs, "I'm sorry; I guess your sense of style has changed since we last went shopping."

"I guess," I mumble as I walk away from the 'teen diva' and 'Cinderella' section of the furniture store. I run my hand across the end of each bed. Feeling the cold metal of each one slide through my fingers. I used to love shopping with mum. Now it feels like a chore. I couldn't decide what type of furniture I wanted and I couldn't care less to make myself decide. It all seemed so trivial when just a couple of weeks ago, my life and the life of the forest that surrounded our house was in danger. I stop pacing the aisles, thinking about that day. The one day that changed my entire life. All the amazing things I saw. All the amazing things I did. All the amazing people _and things_ I met. Then I was thinking about him. And only him. Nod. The most amazing person I've ever met. How could I miss someone so much. I feel like I barely know him, but at the same time like I've known him all my life. I can't help but smile, remembering the conversation I had had with him last night. Via skype. Well it's something I call skype to make it seem more _normal_. But it's a close to normal as our relationship will ever get. Video chat. I sigh again and the smile fades.

"Is this the one you want?" My dad startles me as he taps me on the shoulder.

"What?" I say as I turn to him. He gestures at the bed in front of me that I hadn't even noticed before, even though my hand was absently caressing the carvings in the wood. When I finally notice the bed I gasp. It was gorgeous. A mahogany four poster queen sized bed, with stunning carvings of flowers in the wood. The sides were draped by delicate thin white curtains.

"Oh my," I whisper.

My dad laughs, "I'll take that as a yes." He waves a store attendant over, "I don't even want to know the cost," he chuckles again as he tells the attendant, "just put it on my card. We will need a dresser, and a desk as well as the two matching bed side tables."

The attendant nods and writes down the information of the bed, then follows us around the store while I pick out a simple but elegant dresser and a desk, both made out of the same wood. I even found a study chair with the same engravings as the bed. Now I remember why I like shopping so much.

The next day the bedroom ensemble arrived. I'd had trouble sleeping once again, and Nod hadn't 'called' me like he usually does every night. But the worried thoughts quickly left my mind as I focused on showing the moving guys where to put my furniture. The attic, my new bedroom, was huge. It was eight metres long and six wide, with a small balcony right in the middle of the long side. It overlooked the forest, facing east to get the most perfect view of the sunrise. Wide windows framed the balcony door and the north and south sides of the room. I loved all the sunlight that flooded my room. The bed and bed side tables were placed in the middle of the wall facing the balcony, with my dresser and desk on either side. It was very simple, but I like the minimalistic feel.

I thanked the moving men and stood on my balcony as I watched them go. I had found similar white curtains to the ones on my bed to hang up on the double glass door entry to the balcony. When a breeze came by all the curtains swayed around the room.

"Very majestic," my dad noted as he walked in, pushing the curtains aside to join me on the balcony.

"Thank you so much dad! This is perfect!" I said as I hugged him.

He chuckled as he pulled away, "there is just one more thing," he said as he turned.

I followed him back into the bedroom and was shocked. There, leaning against the wall was mum's old mirror. It was the kind that sits on a woman's make up desk. The oldest memories I have of my mother in this house were of when she would sit in front of it, making herself look even more impossibly beautiful than she already was.

"Dad, I can't-"

"Nonsense!" he interrupted before I had a chance to speak, "It matches perfectly, and it can be screwed into your desk." He picked it up and carried it over to the desk, lining it up and pulling out an electric screw driver and some screws from the utensil belt he was wearing. I stood there watching him silently before he asked me to help him.

I walked over, still dumbfounded, and held the mirror in place as he screwed it on. My fingers traced the wooden vines that served as a frame for the mirror. I started to cry. It seems like I've been doing that far too often lately.

"Thank-you," I whisper to him as he stands up to admire his work.

He wiped my tears away before he smiled, "she would have wanted you to have it. It's her 18th birthday present to you." He kissed my forehead again and left the room.

I sat on the wooden desk chair, looking at my reflection and seeing my mother staring back at me.


	2. Chapter Two

I gathered up the energy to go down to my old room and pack up my things. The transition only took two trips before the old bedroom was completely bare of my personal items.

After I had finished I went downstairs to find my dad talking to Nod via the video chat. I raised an eyebrow as I approached, trying to be quiet to try and hear what they were talking about.

"Hey M.K!" Nod said from the screen, looking over my father's shoulder.

"What are you guys chatting about?" I ask, suspiciously as my father swivels his chair around and I sit on his knee.

"Never you mind young lady," he says. Then he says his goodbyes to Nod and turns off the screen. I frown. Nod hadn't called me last night and apparently didn't want to talk to me then.

"Would you like something to eat?" My dad says as he stands up, moving me from his knee.

I'm still frowning when I agree and we go and make some sandwiches.

"So what were you guys talking about," after we had finished our lunch in silence.

"Just asking if I should take down my cameras to give them some privacy." He said as he turned his back to me and started on the dishes.

I frowned again, "You're asking Nod that?"

My father shrugged, "Yeah, so I will take them all down, except the one he uses to call you of course," and he grinned over his shoulder at me. The change of subject didn't work and I squinted at him before turning around and walking outside.

I wanted to talk to Nod but I was too embarrassed to see him in person. He was so small and I was so gigantic. And even though I could hear him fine with the helmet my dad made me, I knew what it was like to talk to a _stomper_. I walked around to the backyard and grabbed a towel off the clothes line. I placed it in the sunniest spot in the yard and pulled off my shirt. I lay there, basking in the sun, in just my hot pink bra and denim shorts. My dad never came out the back so I wasn't worried about him finding me there. I closed my eyes and soaked in the sun. Letting it heat up my bare skin.

I had slipped off into a sleepy daydream when I heard a hushed voice. I sat up on my elbows and looked around. There was no one there. I squinted and looked between the trees, the forest wasn't as dense this side of the house and there wasn't even the flutter of a single pair of wings. I lay back down and closed my eyes again. I fell asleep within a heartbeat.

"M.K!"

I awoke again with the same feeling I'd had the past few nights. Sitting up quickly, making my head spin. I was confused when I saw that it was still daytime and I was still outside. I tried to think of the nightmare that I had once again relived, but was surprised when I couldn't remember it. Usually I remember every horrid detail about them. I mindlessly rubbed the marks on my arms where the towel had imprinted onto my skin and I stand to pick the towel up off the grass.

And immediately stumbled backwards and fall. The towel is too big. I look at its vastness and panic. I look up to the house and it looms like a skyscraper in the sky. I find myself calling for Nod before I see the Queen rush to me.

"M.K! Finally you're awake! I've been calling you like for ages!" She has a hand on her hip as she scolds me. I smile, she is still a child and definitely a _diva teen_.

"Why am I small again?" I ask as I look around for my t-shirt.

"I need your help desperately!" Says the Queen in a rush, "I didn't mean to shrink you again, but I got so frustrated that you couldn't hear me, and then it sort of just happened." She smiled at me sheepishly.

But I wasn't paying attention I had just realised that my shirt was still big since I wasn't wearing it when I was shrunk.

"Can you please shrink my shirt then? And what do you need my help with?" I watch her as she puts her tiny green fingers to her head to concentrate on shrinking my shirt. She's silent as she tries, then resorts to blowing a raspberry at the big blue lump of cotton when it refuses to shrink. She turns to me and shrugs as if to say _well I tried_.

"I need you to come back to Moonhaven with me!"

"What now?" I ask as she begins to walk away.

"Ronin!" she calls out to the forest and instantly a single hummingbird appears with Ronin astride its back. I cover my chest and blush, looking for something to hide myself from shame with.

Ronin gracefully jumps off the hummingbird and raises an eyebrow at me cowering behind the Queen. "Hello M.K. nice to see you again," he holds out a hand for me to shake then pulls it back quickly when he notices my bare shoulders from behind the Queen.

He clears his throat and takes off his leaf armor and then his white under shirt before passing it to me. I smile at him and snatch it greedily from his hand. He turns away and I quickly throw it on. There's a whole lot of awkward silence when I say "thanks" and he turns back around.

My face is as pink as the bra you could see through the shirt, but it was better than nothing.

"Well then," Ronin put his serious face back on, but he was going red to, the Queen laughed, "let's get back to Moonhaven to discuss what needs to be…discussed." He turned quickly walked back to the hummingbird. The Queen and I followed. He lifted the Queen up behind the saddle and turned to me to ask if I needed help. I just jumped straight up and sat behind the Queen. She laughed again and Ronin cleared his throat again before jumping up himself. We were in the air in seconds.

It was a long ride back to Moonhaven and I found myself thinking about Nod. The more I thought about the secret conversation that he'd had with my dad the more unjustly annoyed I got. When we finally got to the flower village it was dark. I couldn't help but yawn as Ronin grounded the bird.

"Tired?" he asked as he helped the Queen down.

"Extremely. I've been having horrendous dreams which seem to keep me up all night."

"Well," he said as I jumped off the bird, he gestured to a small cottage made from twigs, stones and leaves, "you can rest here tonight. I will send a message to your father explaining the situation. We can have the talk in the morning." He opened the cottage door for me.

I smiled at him gratefully, "thank you Ronin, and thank you" I said slightly sarcastically to the Queen. She giggled again before her and Ronin walked off with the bird in tow toward the palace.

I shut the door to the cottage and leaned against it while I scanned the room. The cottage was quite small. And empty. I frowned. It was really empty. Just an empty square room. I was confused. There was a small cluster of leaves in one corner which I assumed to be a bed and that was it! The first night that I have my big, beautiful, four poster bed at home and I have to sleep on a pile of leaves?!

I open the cottage door again to go for a walk and slam straight into someone. We both groan and I realise I knocked him to the ground.

"Nod!" I exclaim as I hold out a hand to help him up.

"M.K?" he says confused. He slowly reaches for my hand but doesn't use it to get up. We stand there holding hands. Me with a dorky smile on my face and him with a confused frown. My smile drops immediately. And I pull my hand back.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Uh…nothing," he says as he dusts himself off. I look away, embarrassed, clearly he wasn't expecting to see me in this cottage, so who was he coming to visit, "What's that?"

I look back at him to see what he's talk about and notice he's starring at my chest. Well my bright pink bra that seems to be shining through the shirt.

_Oh god kill me now_ I think as I cover my chest with my arms.

"And what's wrong with your face?" he puts his hand up to my cheek and I feel so hot I think I might burn him.

I push him away and turn around, "Crap!" I can't think of anything to fix the situation. I reach up and pull the hairband from my hair, letting it fall around my face. I keep my arms crossed and my head down as I turn back around and push past him. I don't know where I'm walking to I just need to get away from the humiliation.

Nod follows.

"Go away," I tell him as he catches up.

"Why?" he laughs.

"Because I'm embarrassed!" I laugh as well, but push him again.

"Embarrassed?" he says.

"Yes!"

"What does that mean?"

I look at him incredulity. "You don't know what embarrassed is?"

He stops and turns me to face him and laughs when I try to turn back away, "No I don't."

I sigh and roll my eyes, turn away and keep walking. Of course he's never been embarrassed he's too freaking perfect! I start to get annoyed again and I don't think he deserves it but I can't help myself. We continue to walk down the tiny street in silence. I know he's confused but I don't want to explain it to him.

My eyes light up when I see a leafwoman picking up her clothes from what must serve as a clothes line, but looks more like a heaps of thin rocks standing upright in the ground. She's humming as she folds them.

"Miss!" I shout out as I run to her. I hear Nod say something but couldn't understand him as I rush toward what seems like a god-send.

"Yes?" she looks up at me from her clothes.

"Please," I puff as I get to her, "Could I please, please, borrow one of your undergarment, dress things." I beg as I point to a long piece of cloth that she must wear under her armor. Hers was more like a dress and looked like it might reach down to my knees. I move my arms away from my chest slightly to show her my problem and she laughs as she hands me one.

"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" I say and hug her. She laughs again and tells me not to mention it.

I turn back to Nod with a smile on my face. He is still confused and looks slightly upset.

I make my way back to the cottage. Nod follows me in silence.

I let Nod in and shut the door behind him.

"Are you angry at me?" he asks as he takes a seat on the ground.

"No," I say, confused. I slip the second garment on over the one that I already have on. Nod watches me still confused.

"You know it's sorta weird that you're watching me," the garment stops just above my knees.

"Why?"

"Why what?" I ask as I take off my pants from underneath the dress. Thankfully my undies are not fluro.

"Why is it weird?"

I look at him. He is now staring at my chest again. I sit down in front of him.

"It's weird because it's not what boys and girls do." He still looks confused. "Because it's embarrassing…" still confused. I sigh, "embarrassing is when your ashamed of something and someone else sees it." I explain. "Like if you fall over in a crowded place, then it's embarrassing."

"If you're ashamed of what you're wearing then why do you wear it?"

I sigh again, "No, I'm not ashamed of it, but you being a boy, are not meant to see my underwear." I went bright red when I said it and looks away, "unless…" I laughed.

"Unless what?"

"Never mind," I shook my head, "what are you doing here anyway?"

"But wait, you said it's 'not what boys and girls do'. What does that mean? 'Boys and girls'?"

I looked at him like he had just morphed into an elephant, "You don't know the difference between boys and girls?"

He shook his head completely naïve. "Do you know how you were made?" I've completely lost the fight to not get embarrassed again. But it's dark now so I don't think he can see my red face, although he might be able to feel the heat that seems to be radiating from it.

"Yeah, my mother and father made me," he looked at me like it didn't answer the question.

"Yeah, but do you know how?"

"Yeah, my father gave his pollen to her." I laughed loudly it gave him a fright. He looked sad and confused, "what?"

"That's disgusting!" I gasp between giggles, "Why do you say it like that? It's not like he just handed it to her!" I continued to laugh. He was still confused.

"Yes he did." I stopped laughing instantly. Now I was the one confused.

"He just gave it to her? Like handed it over?"

"Yeah. Isn't that the way that you pollenate?"

"No!" I couldn't believe it. I didn't know whether to be insulted or hysterical.

"Then how do you do it?"

"Oh no way! I'm not explaining the birds and the bees to you!" I walked over to the pile of leaves and laid down.

"What do birds or bees have anything to do with it?" I smiled and shut my eyes, "you were telling me the difference between boys and girls."

I kept my eyes shut, "the difference between boys and girls is where the pollen comes from and where it goes."

I cracked an eye open to look at him, still sitting in the middle of the room. He eyes me up and down. "And where does it go?"

I giggled, "We are not having this discussion anymore. You didn't answer my question before: What are you even doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He walked over to me and laid down next to me on the pile of leaves. We turned to face each other. "I live here."

Well shit, this is awkward.


End file.
